[2] The third Forum, held in late May and early June, 2012, explored whether the transatlantic model of democracy can be applied to other parts of the world as the centers of wealth shift eastward and southward.
[5] The sixth WGF, held in June 2015, introduced Business Leadership Dialogues, designed to facilitate communication between executives and policymakers on topics like defense, IT innovation and energy.
[8][9][10][11] In July 2017, together with the WGF will be the "Forum of Three sea", which will be attended by 12 leaders of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe: Polish, Czech, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary.
High-profile speakers at the various plenary and group sessions in recent years have included former Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, former U.S. National Security Advisor General James Jones, former chess world champion and current Human Rights Foundation Chairman Garry Kasparov, Admiral James Stavridis, at the time Supreme Allied Commander Europe, New Hampshire Senator and former Governor Jeanne Shaheen and NATO Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow.
Senator John McCain or former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt; movements like the Damas de Blanco in Cuba or the Syrian Civil Defense; cultural institutions, such as the Belarus Free Theater and Donetsk National University; entire peoples of countries as well as artists, diplomats and activists.
Financial support is provided by various corporate sponsors, including American defense giants Raytheon and Lockheed Martin as well as large global companies such as Google, 3M and Airbus.